Fans of Wildcat women are a spirited group

DURHAM — The University of New Hampshire women's hockey team didn't give its fans much to cheer about during Saturday's 10-2 loss to defending national champion Minnesota.

But that's unlikely to keep the Wildcats' die-hard fans away from the sport they love.

While not as numerous as fans of the UNH men's hockey team, the fans who follow the women's team religiously are unwavering in their support for the team.

Scott Gower has been attending UNH hockey games since he was a student in the late 1990s, when Darren Haydar, Ty Conklin and Hobey Baker Award winner Jason Krog were the big names on the Wildcats' roster.

“Those years got me hooked,” Gower said. “I really just like hockey. We'd never been to a women's game before the last year of the ECAC. With Hockey East forming a women's league (in 2002), we made it a point to come to every game.”

Gower, along with his brother Jeff, is a mainstay at most UNH hockey games, men's and women's, and stands in the front row of the student section at home games, even though he is no longer a student.

“This is my family,” Gower said of his fellow die-hards. “Sometimes I see these people more than my real family.”

The UNH women's hockey team has fallen on hard times in recent years. After five straight NCAA tournament appearances between 2006 and 2010 (which included two Frozen Four bids), the Wildcats have had two straight losing seasons. The current UNH team is 6-8-1 overall.

“I feel like the women need more support,” he said, gesturing to the mostly empty Whittemore Center. “I take pride in going to the women's games. But obviously, the atmosphere at the men's game is kind of the draw.”

Darci Wilder, a UNH student in the early 2000s, owns five UNH hockey jerseys and has attended 225 consecutive men's home games. She can't pinpoint the exact date the streak started, but she was able to put it in a historic context.

“Whatever game it was after Colin Hemingway's goal against Providence between the legs,” said Wilder, who estimates she spends around $3,000 a year on her hockey habit.

The crowds at the women's games are smaller and, as a result, quieter. But those who dismiss women's hockey are missing out on a good game, according to Jeff Gower.

“It's a different type of game,” he said. “Of course there's no checking or anything like that. It's kind of more skill oriented. You can't just go up there and plow into somebody. It's more of a pure hockey than anything. A lot of people come to the men's game just to see the hits.”

The Gower brothers and Wilder travel together to a large number of games, men's and women's. The trio made the trip to Minnesota last year to watch the women's team get swept by the Gophers.

“It's kind of like second-nature now,” Jeff Gower said. “It's not a job, but it's something we always do.”

The group that stands behind the UNH net on the east side of the rink do the same chants and cheers for the women's games that they do for the men (but cleaned up slightly for the women).

“We have to keep up the tradition,” Jeff Gower said. “Some of them would rather have the dirtier cheers, though.”

UNH senior Joe Landry, who clangs the cowbell in the student section at both the men's and the women's games, said there is definitely a difference in leading a small cheering group at the women's games than a large one at the men's games.

“The men's games, the students have a tendency to pick up the pace on their own,” Landry said. “During the men's game, you have to pick it up, or the students will pick it up for you if you don't.”

Becca Rubinstein, who graduated from UNH last spring, was back at the Whittemore Center on Saturday to cheer on the Wildcats. So intense is her fixation on each game, she refused to be interviewed during play.

“I like hockey, and this is fantastic hockey,” Rubenstein said. “The lack of checking forces them to focus on finesse.”

The UNH women have never won an NCAA championship, but can stake a claim as the only UNH hockey team to earn a national championship. The Wildcat women won the AWCHA national title in 1998, beating Brown 4-1 in the final game.

Megan Suffel, a sophomore at UNH who is on the swimming and diving team, came to cheer on her friend Jenna Lascelle, a sophomore forward. Both Suffel and Lascelle hail from Cornwall, Ontario.

Suffel came to Saturday's game waving a large Canadian flag.

“We try to support everybody, whether or not they're from Canada,” Suffel said. “Half of the team is Canadian.”

Aiden Durocher, a senior music education major, is the student director of the pep band. Even though the band did not play at Saturday's game, Durocher was wearing his UNH jersey and cheering on the women against Minnesota.

“I want to support my Wildcats,” Durocher said. “I have a number of friends on the team and they could use all the support they can get.”

Even though he went home to Manchester for the holiday break, Durocher said he wanted to see how the UNH women stacked up against the mighty Gophers. He said he attends all of the men's games and as many women's games as he can get to, but enjoys the smaller crowd at the women's games.

“It's nice, because there's a lot fewer people here,” Durocher said. “The atmosphere is a lot better. At men's games, there's a lot of ferocity at those games.”

Rubenstein was sporting a jersey worn by Maggie Joyce (a “bad-ass defenseman,” according to Rubenstien), who played for the Wildcats from 2005-09. She said she doesn't understand exactly why women's hockey has failed to attract the large crowds that typically fill the Whittemore Center for the men's team.

“A lot of people like to see the checking and the fighting,” Rubenstein said. “They don't realize that women's hockey is a very physical game.

“One of the reasons I've heard most often is that people like the atmosphere better for men's games,” she continued. “But they fail to acknowledge that if they came to the women's games, the atmosphere would be the same.”